Melbourne Serco Offices, corner of Bourke and William Streets, Melbourne.

(Meet in the courtyard on the south-east corner)

Called by the Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) – www.rac.vic.org

Serco is the corporation that makes millions of dollars from locking up asylum seekers under the Australian government’s inhumane policy of mandatory detention. In order to fulfil the government’s aim of dehumanising and punishing these innocent people for the so-called ‘crime’ of seeking asylum and to cut costs, Serco regularly abuse asylum seekers, beyond the abuse of locking these people up indefinitely.

On Friday, the 16th of September from 12.30pm, RAC Victoria wants you to join us in protesting against this corporation and making a fuss in the CBD of Melbourne for a few hours to highlight the abhorrent treatment Serco metes out to innocent refugees. We want to make sure people know there are those in Australia that won’t stand for this.

Serco guards have been reported to dare suicidal refugees on rooves or up trees to ‘jump,’ the company have not just ignored the mental health needs of refugees who are driven to suicide (7 since Serco took over administration), but psychologically abused refugees by putting defiant detainees in isolation, used sleep deprivation techniques against refugees protesting on rooves, and simulated deportations leading one Hazara man to commit suicide a week later.

And as recently as last month, guards beat an Indian man to try and force him on a plane to be deported, in line with the powers given to them to carry out deportations, that would have been used in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police to deport people to Malaysia under the now defunct plan.

No human being should be treated like this, let alone people who have already gone through so much trauma that led them to flee in the first place. We need condemn Serco for their disgusting treatment of refugees and demand that we get rid of mandatory detention and offshore processing so that asylum seekers are processed in Australia, in the community.